Railway tie



W. R. HEWITT RAILWAY TIE 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 18, 1930 H h w 5.5%

INVENTOR.

BY :7 o? fromvsys.

Dec. 1, 1931. w. R. HEWITT 1,834,342

RAILWAY TIE Filed Aug. 18, 1930 2 Sheets-Sham 2 INVENTOR. v

Mai 42% MM ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 1, 1931 ATE TO F E wILLiAMn. HEWITT, 0F,1TEW =YORK, N. Y.

, RAILWAY Tin application fi1e d Aug 1ist 18, 1930. Serial No. 47 ,032.

"This invention relates to railway ties, and especially to a tie in which the major portion is constructed of metal, while the rail supporting-portion is constructed of wood or a sect1on,'are placed between the sides of the similar material. v

The object of thepresent invention" is to generally improve and simplify the. construction and operation of railway ties; to provide a tie which will have the advantages characteristic of a metal tie and at the same time present the desirable characteristics of a wooden tie; toprovi-de a tiein which the parts subjected to deterioration and wear may be readily removed and renewed; to provide a combination metal and 'wood tie 1n which the metal portion may be permanently fixed inthe road bed, while the wood portion may be removed or renewed without d1sturbing the metal tie or'the road bed; to provide a tie which is vertically adjustableby theiintroduction of packingor ballast material between the-metaland the wood tie so.

as to permit leveling of the rails? and, further, to provide a tie to which rails maybe readily secured regardless of the gauge or distance between the rails. V r I I The invention s-shown by way of 111%- tration in the accompanying drawings, in

which Fig. 1 is a central longitudinal section-of one end of the tie 'and therail supported by: 1 i i.

Fig. 2 isa plan'view of Fig. 1, 1

Fig. 3 is "a cross sect'n taken'on line III-IIIofFig.1,"

Fig. t-sh'ows a complete tie and the rall supported th-erebyfsai'd-view being partially in section, I A a Fig. 5fshows amodified form of the metal tie. 1

particularly Fig. 4, A Vindicates the subsoil of aroad'bed and B'ballast material, such as crushed'rock. or the like, to form a support for a tie C and the r'ails Dcarried thereby.

The tie as disclosed forms the subject matter of the present application: It consists of three separable sections generally indicated at 2, 3 and 4:, the section Qbeing formed of metal, while the sections 3 and 4 are-formed Referring to the drawings in detail, and,

of wood or like material. The metal sectionfonns the main portion ofthe tie and is preferably constructed of channel iron or steel. Cross plates'5, angle-shaped in cross.

channel and they are there secured by weld-i ing as indicated atj6, or bymeans of bolts" such as shown at 7 A-pocket is in this mannerformed at each endof the channel-shaped ti-eiand these form receptacles for the wooden The rails D may be secured to the wooden tie sections '3 and tin any suitable manner, but preferably by the method disclosed in my co-pending' application entitled Tie plate, jfiled March 26,1930, Serial Number 139,0 14} Briefly stated, the method fem ployed consists in interposing tie plates such as shown at 9 between the wooden ties and the rails. These plates are secured to the ties by lag screws 10',"said lag screws being 7 provided with square heads 11 at their upper ends, wherebythey maybe grasped and rotate'd while inserting them in the ties and being also provided with collars 12 under which are placed springs or spring washers 13; This method of securing the tie plates to thewooden tie sections permits a slight yertical movement of the tie plates with relation to the tie sections and, as a consequence,

a slight vertical movement of the rails which are secured thereto, the importance of such verticalmovement being clearly brought out in my co-pendin'g application. The "rails D aresecured to the tie plates by means of bolts" 14 These bolts extend throughthe tie plates and also through side or distance plates 15 a'ndQare freely turnable in both, "the bolts being secured against endwise' removal by heads" 16 on their lower, ends and by eccentrics 17 on their upper endsgfThese heads areprovidedwith flattened sides 18 so that of the wooden tie sections.

sections 3 and 4, as a limited vertical move ment is permitted due to the spring Washers 13 employed. It will, however, be understood that any other method of securing the rails D with relation to the wooden'tie sections may be employed.

In actual practice it will be understood that the main tie sections, to-wit, the chan-. nels C, may be more or less permanently in? stalled in the road bed where they are held against slewing or endwise movement by the ballast material. A slight amount of ballast or packing material, such as indicated at 8,

is then introduced in the bottoms of the pock-' ets and leveled off and the wooden tie sections are then inserted and the rails applied. If it is desired to raise or lower the rails when leveling, then the endmost angle plates 5may be removed by releasing the bolts 7 and packing material may thus be introduced or re moved without disturbing the Wooden tie sections or the main channel section. The removal of these bolts with the accompanying cross plates 5 permits complete removal of the packing 8 and also endwise removal This permits overhauling of the tie sections or removal and reinsertion of the same without disturbing either the main channel ties or the rails. If new tie sections are inserted and brought in contact with the rails through the tie plates, it is only necessary to introduce the packing material through the end and tamp until the rail is brought up to proper level. When sutlicient packing material has been introduced and tamped, the end plates 5 are replaced and again secured by the bolt 7. Obviously, a track supported in the manner described ,may be maintained at its proper level with a minimum of effort and with a minimum of cost when comparison is made with the ordinary method which requires complete removal of the ties, disturbance of the road bed, ballast, and so on.

A tie constructed in the manner described should have a long life, as the only parts subject to wear and deterioration are the wooden sections and as these are cheap in comparison with ordinary ties due to their short length, they may be renewed or overhauled from time to time. The tie shown has the advantages characteristic of a metal tie and at the same time possesses the desirable character istics of a wooden tie. Disturbance of the road bed, the ballast, and of the main tie sec- 'tions is prevented and the cost of maintenance should, accordingly, be small.

By referring to Figs. 1 and 4, it will be noted that drain openings 20 are formed in the pockets and in the center of the main of being made up of a single beam, it is constructed oftwo sections of angle iron such as indicated at 30 and 81. These sections are secured with relation to each other by cross plates suchas indicated at 5a, which are welded or otherwise secured thereto and they are also provided with removable end plates 5?) to permit endwise insertion or removal of the wooden tie sections 3 and 4 and the packing material By referring to the drawings, it will be noted that the base sections of the angles 30 and 31 do not quite contact each other. The longitudinal slot 82 is in this manner formed in the base portion of the tie and this serves the function of a drain to prevent the collection of moisture.

While certain features of the present invention are more or less specifically described, I wish it understood that various changes may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims. finish of the several parts employed may be such as the manufacturer may decide, or varying conditions-or uses may demand.

Having thus described my invention, what I .claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A railroad tie comprising a metal tie having a pocket formed in each end thereof for the reception of a pair of short wood ties, and a loose packingadapted to be introduced between the bottom of each pocket and the wood ties. I V

2. A railroadtie comprising a metal tie having a pocket formed in each end thereof for the reception of a pair of short wood ties, a packing of loose material in the pockets, a removable end plate for each pocket to permit endwise insertionor removal of the Wood ties and packing material.

3. In a railroad tie, a metal pocket, a loose granular material in said pocket, and a nonmetallic member carried by the pocket and restingon the granular material.

.4. In arailroad'tie, a metal'pocket, agranular packing material in said pocket, a nonmetallic member carried by the'pocket and resting on the granular material, and means for effecting an increase or reduction in the quantity of packingmaterial in the pocket without removing the non-metallic member therefrom.

5. A railroad tie comprising a metal mem- Similarly, that the materials and her having pockets formed therein, sand in the pockets, and wooden rail supporting members carried by the pockets and resting on the sand.

6. The combination with a metal railway tie having non-metallic blocks for the support of rails, of a quantity of loose granular material interposed between the metal tie and the non-metallic blocks.

WILLIAM R. HEWITT. 

